Opinion

I was pleasantly surprised by the Conservative Party’s leadership debate in Moncton on Tuesday. I thought I was likely to flick it off pretty quickly — 14 candidates, most of them men in suits, all fighting for the same mid-term middle ground.

Of course there is a Santa Claus. It’s just that no single somebody could do all he has to do. So the Lord has spread the task among us all. That’s why everybody is Santa Claus. I am. You are.
– Truman Capote

My musical muse is dishing out some seasonal vibes as December begins.
Enduring more than a few reworked lyrics through the ages, the perennial jingle "Twelve Days of Christmas" may surely survive another assault.

Letter to the editor

Dear editor: In the last few days Scotsburn has announced the decision to close its St. John’s plant, resulting in the elimination of approximately 170 good paying unionized jobs. The actual decision along with it coinciding with an escalating regional economic downturn contributes to an even more negative human impact.

It seems to me that Donald Trump, the United States president-elect, might not be as thoroughly inconsistent as your Nov. 25 editorial suggests, when he says he wants new members of the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the ruling which legalized abortion on demand although he is willing to accept the Supreme Court’s ruling that same-sex marriage is legal.